Greetings #JustWrite!! We did it!! EICC and Just Write's 1st writer's workshop happened 3 days ago and it was an amazing experience to witness so many aspiring and veteran writers come together to receive so many fruitful seeds that were planted by our speakers. Prior to the workshop, I had some seeds planted as well. I had a chance to sit in on an EICC meeting. The members are currently reading a book called, "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber.
An interesting book, it details the understanding of technical work and business together to establish a business. During our discussion, we learned about the 3 personalities within a person in business: the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician. The entrepreneur is the visionary and dreamer. The manager is the planner, very orderly and systematic. The technician is the doer, a taskmaster. We were challenged by Reginald, EICC's president, to evaluate ourselves based on those 3 roles. Based on my evaluation, I am an entrepreneur(20%), manager(30%), and technician(50%). According to Reginald, these percentages will vary according to where we are and how we grow. It's interesting because prior to the evaluation, I instantly identified myself as a technician based on my career paths and my personality. I tend to take on tasks others refuse to complete, the story of my life. Our homework assignment is to track and tally what we do throughout the week based on those traits.
Speaking of stories, here are some brief moments that resonated with me from the workshop. As the workshop's opening session begins, Kim speaks on Jesus being the author and finisher of our faith. As we all know, Kim loves to open up meetings and fellowships with icebreakers. The icebreaker for this session was called "Enteruption" which is the name of Kim's forthcoming publishing company and a unique play on the word, interruption. The audience was told to stand up and share something about themselves and anyone who could relate to them based on what they said would interrupt them and share about themselves and everyone would continue until the last person. I thought it was interesting because you are learning about someone but also connecting the dots and creating a story along the way. As Kim was speaking, it hit me that God is the entrepreneur, the one man show that makes all things happen, the Holy Spirit is the manager who teaches and orders our steps, and we are the technicians, the doers who complete those things that are given or should I say gifted to us to fulfill. Wow, that was a revelation! From that moment, the participants were dismissed and began to join their individual breakout sessions. Although I couldn't sit in on all of the sessions, I did have a chance to assist and sit in on Lakia Brandenburg's session about Marketing/Branding. She gave 10 tips on how to market and brand your business. Her points were concise with simple and inexpensive strategies to create a marketable and successful brand. During her presentation, I loved how she turned a negative into a positive by saying, "Go to work with the mindset of you're funding your dream." That statement was a defining moment for the audience.
As the breakout sessions ended, participants visited the vendor tables and lunch was served. During that time, a few of the speakers had a chance to share their testimonies and the audience had an opportunity to ask questions. Also there was another fun moment where Kim challenged the audience to create a story from their seats without paper and pencil, but with their voices. Everyone had to be creative and connect a detail until the last person finished the story. It was a very colorful story, like a beautiful quilt woven together with unique threaded patterns and colors. That activity led into the session, entitled "The Word in Action" which featured Sabrena Farmer, an artist and Damika Davis, a dancer. Sabrena shared how painting a picture tells a story. One of her artwork pieces told the story of children that were forgotten, abused, and hurting, while Damika told a brief story through dance. The moment everyone was waiting for was the "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover" panel hosted by V103's Joyce Littel. The panel covered the topics of legal matters, becoming a member of EICC, editing and facing fears and dealing with rejection, doing business with Called to Conquer, taking responsibility with arts to worship, books opening doors, and the importance of speaking and becoming a speaker. Joyce did an excellent job moderating the panel. I enjoyed the commentary from Sharon Frame, Earnelle Winfrey, Barbara Winters, Craig Heath, Bernard Williams, D. Marie Monroe, and Crystal Daughtery. The workshop concluded with Chris Cooper, who spoke on getting stuff done and the 3 P's that prevent a thought leader from moving forward: perfectionism/procrastination(overly critical/wasting time, putting tasks off), paparazzi(focused on fame), and profits(focused on riches). Chris helped the audience to see that in order to move in any vision that God has given you, you have to just do it and trust Him along the way. Of course, this has been the #1 mantra for #JustWrite. Don't just talk it, we must walk it, and be it. It was interesting that as the workshop was happening, I was able to connect with Tricia who flew from New York to support and reconnect with the many speakers I had an opportunity to feature in past blogs. It was amazing to reminisce on how we were all connected. It was in that moment that I realized that we are all a part of a story that never ends. Although that story constantly changes with it's many chapters, edits, and plots, it is a story that continues to grow in every moment we add to it. So thank you again to the speakers who brought the insight along with the motivation that sparked the ignite, there's nothing left to do but #JustWrite.
Blessings!
~Lequvia Ousley~
